Forget Paris: India Leads Asia’s Dash For Coal
$99.3 Billion Still Missing From $100 Billion UN Climate Fund
$99.3 Billion Still Missing From $100 Billion UN Climate Fund
India is opening a
mine a month as it races to double coal output by 2020, putting the world’s
third-largest polluter at the forefront of a pan-Asian dash to burn more of the
dirty fossil fuel that environmentalists fear will upend international efforts
to contain global warming. Other Asian nations are increasingly looking to coal
to power their economies too, with Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam
opening new plants, pushing the Asia/Pacific region to 80 percent of new coal plants.
Japan plans to build another 41 new coal-fired units over the next decade.
--Krishna N Das and Tommy Wilkes, Reuters, 5 October 2015
The Green Climate Fund (GFC) was founded to manage a significant portion
of the $100 billion annual fund promised by rich countries to help the
developing world adapt to climate change, but so far only has an annual budget
of $700 million. The Green Climate Fund was created four years ago during the
COP in Durban (South Africa), with the aim of raising $100 billion per year
from developed countries by 2020. But its uptake has been slow, and donations
have not been forthcoming. --EurActiv, 5
October 2015
Much of the climate debate in the past 20 years has occurred in the backdrop of
hysteria, data manipulation, and wholescale, shameless attempt at slandering
those who don’t agree with the consensus. Climate scientists have become
activists and politicians, while activists have assumed the role of policy
makers, drafting rules and regulations. It is very unfortunate that the Modi
government has succumbed to bullying tactics of western climate propaganda
machines and devised a plan which is impractical and difficult to implement.
Reality will soon dawn and the rosy projections will be exposed for what they
really are. Like Pachauri’s projections of a meltdown of Himalayan glaciers.
--Sriram Ramakrishnan, Times of
India, 5 October 2015
The question that negotiators will ask: is the gap between India’s posture and
that of the West large enough to cause a crisis at the upcoming Paris summit.
The shadow of the disastrous 2009 Copenhagen climate summit still hangs over
the process. India’s declared Intended Nationally Determined Contribution
(INDC) is also a pointer to the areas of friction. If India insists that its
targets are conditional on such assistance, talks will be in trouble. New
Delhi, to some degree, has left this to the West. One view is that US President
Barack Obama, determined to make climate change part of his legacy, will be
prepared to let this go. French President Francois Hollande, the host of the
summit, similarly wants to avoid a breakdown. Their desire for success should work
in India’s negotiating favour. --Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Hindustan
Times, 2 October 2015
Divisions over money between rich and poor countries re-emerged as nations
submitted their plans for tackling climate change to the UN. The Philippines
said that without adequate climate compensation, their cuts in emissions
wouldn’t happen. India, the last big emitter to publish its contribution, said
it would need $2.5 trillion to meet its targets. Developed countries have
committed to $100bn funding for developing countries to deal with climate
change by 2020, but India’s environment minister suggested the bill was going
to a lot bigger than that. “I am telling the world that the bill for climate
action for the world is not just $100bn, it is in trillions of dollars per
year,” said Prakash Javadekar. --Matt McGrath, BBC News, 2
October 2015
Poland’s prime minister says she does not consider nuclear energy a priority
and is instead focused on strengthening the coal mining industry. Ewa Kopacz’s
comments indicated a U-turn from earlier government plans to add nuclear energy
to Poland’s mix in the coming years. Kopacz said Monday that Poland’s energy
security is based on coal. --Association
Press, 5 October 2015
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